Peter Cotes

Peter Cotes (19 March 1912 – 10 November 1998) was an English director, producer, actor, writer and production manager.^[1]

Cotes was born as Sydney Boulting^[2] in Maidenhead, Berkshire.^[3] His brothers John and Roy Boulting became noted film makers.^[2] He began as an actor, before concentrating on theatre production.^[4] He was the original director of the world's longest-running production The Mousetrap, still playing at the St Martins Theatre, London.^[5] He wrote several books, including an acclaimed biography of Charlie Chaplin in 1951.^[4]

He was twice married: Myfanwy Jones (marriage annulled) and Joan Miller (widowed 1988).^[5] He died from natural causes in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, aged 86.^[4]

Cinema and television credits

As actor

• Pal O'Mine (1936) ... Archie
• Pastor Hall (1940) ... Erwin Kohn
• Fingers (1941) (uncredited)
• The Gentle Sex (1943) (uncredited) ...Taffy
• Don't Take It to Heart (1944) ...Patterson, Junior Counsel
• The Way to the Stars (1945) ...Aircraftsman
• Beware of Pity (1946) ...Kosma
• The Upturned Glass (1947) ... Questioner

As writer

• London Playhouse (3 episodes, 1955–56)
  • Lady Must Sell (1955) (adaptation)
  • Summer in Normandy (1955) (production supervisor)
  • The Guv'nor (1956) TV episode (production supervisor)
• ITV Playhouse (1 episode 1956)
  • Ashes in the Wind (1956) (adaptation)
• ITV Play of the Week (1 episode 1965)
  • Winter in Ischia (1965) (television adaptation)

As producer

• London Playhouse (5 episodes 1955–56)
  • The Inward Eye (1955) (producer)
  • Lady Must Sell (1955) (producer)
  • Fighting Chance (1955) (producer)
  • Adeline Girard (1955) (supervising producer)
  • Yesterday's Mail (1956) (producer)
• ITV Playhouse
  • Woman in a Dressing Gown (1956) (producer)
• BBC Sunday Night Theatre
  • The Road (1953) (producer)
  • What the Public Wants (1959) (producer)
• The World of Wooster
  • Jeeves and the Delayed Exit of Claude and Eustice (1966) (associate producer)
  • Jeeves and the Indian Summer of an Uncle (1966) (associate producer)

As director

• BBC Sunday Night Theatre (1 episode 1953)
  • The Road (1953) (uncredited)
• The Right Person (1955)
• London Playhouse (3 episodes 1955–56)
  • Area Nine (1955)
  • Lady Must Sell (1955)
  • Yesterday's Mail (1956)
• Sword of Freedom (1 episode 1957)
  • Alessandro (1957)
• The Young and the Guilty (1958)
• ITV Television Playhouse (5 episodes 1956–58)
  • Ashes in the Wind (1956)
  • Woman in a Dressing Gown (1956)
  • The Young and the Guilty (1956)
  • Not Proven (1957)
  • Look in Any Window (1958)
• Shadow of the Vine (1962)
• ITV Play of the Week (1 episode 1964)
  • The Offence (1964) (TV episode)
• Janie Jones, at the New Theatre, London, (opened 15 July 1968)

Selected theatre credits

• The Mousetrap (1952, director of original London stage production)

References

1. "Peter Cotes". Archived from the original on 2 February 2017.
2. Stevens, Christopher (2010). Born Brilliant: The Life of Kenneth Williams. John Murray. p. 352. ISBN 978-1-84854-195-5.
3. "Peter Cotes Papers – Archives Hub".
4. Gussow, Mel (18 November 1998). "Peter Cotes, 86, Producer and Director of 'Mousetrap'". The New York Times.
5. "Obituary: Peter Cotes". Independent.co.uk. 23 October 2011. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022.

External links

• Peter Cotes at IMDb
• Peter Cotes at the Internet Broadway Database